I am about ready to fire up my engine. It has been about 2 years since it has run. It is a 235 that was rebuilt about 15 years ago. I can turn the crank by hand if I remove the plugs. What should I do prior to running? Here are some concerns I have... 1. I need to make sure I have oil pressure. I plan on cranking it a bit without the spark attached and seeing if I have pressure. Is that a good plan? 2. Fuel pump. This is a fuel pump from a different 235 and it was a bit hard to get it attached. I am worried that it may not work. Is there a way to check it out before I try to run? I have not attached my new gas tank yet. I am planning to use an old lawn mower tank with a gravity feed for the first run. 3. I rebuilt the carb, but since it has not been running, I have been unable to make the final adjustments. Anything else I need to look out for?
Have you tried a search on this site? Nate has LOTS of excellent posts- in fact, I'm just waiting for him to publish a book called, "Nate's book of AD knowledge" CP, our beloved host, would have an exclusive on it and all of us here and abroad would buy it for ourselves and friends of the family. So Nate, how's that book coming?
Er , WHUT ? A buuk ? I cani't hardly read an now you wan' me to rite a buuk?! Aynways ; Adjust the valves (yeah , yeah I know , do 'em again anyways . then squirt some oil on the valve stems between the valve springs , really wet 'em good . Remove spark plugs and oil cap , fill crankcase with freash multi-vis oil like 10W-30 and crank the engiine until you see oil weeping out of the rockers visable through the oil cap hole . Set the lawnmower tank up on the cowl and plumb the fuel pump to it , this way you'll prime the fuel pump and fill the carby whilst you're running up the oil pressure . Don't worry if little or no oil pressure registers on the gauge . Has this" rebuilt " engine ever been fired ? . Have you yet set the points gap (.016" or 33° dwell) and timed it to the ball on pointer ? .
Thanks for the advice. I removed the valve cover to watch what was happening. For a while, I could not fugure out why oil was not coming up through the seep holes, then I noticed the large pool of oil forming under the oil filter - I guess I should have checked the tightness of the filter cap - DUH. The oil pressure guage shows normal oil pressure, but 3 of the seep holes are not putting out any oil and another looks to be blocked with a piece of metal. Should I try to clear out the ones that are not getting oil with a piece of wire?
Rocker Weep Holes I wouldn't , there's prolly oil coming out' round he edges , right ? the weep holes are just for excess so once you light it off there should be oil coming out pretty much all over when it's above idle . if not , then you can take the rocker shafts apart and clean and fiddle with them but there's a specific order to the correct assembly so don't unless you must . Think hard abot getting a magnetic oil drain plug .
You've been back in the fold for 9 days... and already you're stirring the perverbial pot? Welcome home, my friend! That's my mate!
i would drain all old fluids and put new fluids in and i would do a complete engine and trans flush before fireing any old engine 58fleetside then start from a to z and when done she will fire for life
New fluids was the first thing I did. I even removed the oil filter cannister and dumped it out. I keep finding more stuff that I need to dump money into. SWMBO thinks I should repair the roof before starting my engine. She just doesn't understand!
You Must Explain To Her : About how much money you'll $ave by haulung roof bits to the dump and new tar buckets etc. in with the soon to be running truck... Since they took the propane propellant out of WD-40 it has become almost useless (we used to invert the cans and use the propane to light off recalcitrant Diesel engines) , now , it's only use in life is as a heavy duty solvent , for after you get roofing tar or that PCB laced oil from power transformers stuck to your skin , then it's handy to dissolve it Other than that , it's a waste of good $ as it actually damages most things you spray it on .
